THE LINGUISTIC ABILITY AND CHALLENGES OF IGBO CHILDREN WITH DOWN SYNDROME

Abstract

This study investigates the language abilities of Igbo children with Down syndrome (DS). It addresses the linguistic challenges faced by children with DS in Nigeria, with particular reference to Igbo-speaking children. DS is a genetic disorder caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21, which results in general language difficulties in affected individuals. The study aims to identify specific areas of linguistic difficulty in children with DS and suggest ways to improve their language skills. The research involved four Igbo-speaking children aged between 10 and 15 years, consisting of two typically developing children as the control group (CG) and two children with DS as the experimental group (EG). Data were collected from the children using four structured language tasks: a conversation task (five items), a picture-naming task (five items), a sentence repetition task (five items), and a writing task (one paragraph). The collected data were analysed using a descriptive qualitative approach. The study adopted Jean Piaget’s (1952) Cognitive Theory as its theoretical framework. The findings reveal a significant difference in the performance of the control group (CG) and the experimental group (EG), with the children with DS performing lower than their typically developing peers. The study found that children with DS experience difficulties in articulation and expression, while their comprehension remains relatively intact. These deficits negatively affected their performance in the language tasks—conversation, picture naming, sentence repetition, and writing. The study concludes that with improved academic support, including the involvement of professional special-needs teachers, clinical linguists, and speech pathologists, the linguistic abilities of children with DS could be enhanced. This would enable them to communicate more effectively and lead a more linguistically integrated life.